i8: 



NA TURE 



[June 22, iti93 



being used for the second time was re-sterilised, the growth 

 being thus destroyed, but the products remaining. It was found 

 that the tubercle bacillus and the pneumococcus of Fraenkel 

 were quite unaffected, whilst the B. prodigiosus only refused to 

 grow in the re-sterilised culture material. On the other hand 

 the Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, the anthrax bacillus, and the 

 typhoid bacillus were greatly impeded in their development, 

 md no growths whatever made their appearance in the re- 

 sterilised culture material. The cholera bacillus and the B. pyo- 

 cyaneus were also affected, but to a smaller extent. 



Shortly before his death, Mr. Darwin informed Sir J. D. 

 Hooker, F.R.S., that " the difficulties he had experienced in 

 accurately designating the many plants which he had studied, 

 and ascertaining their native countries, had suggested to him 

 the compilation of an ' Index to the Names and Authorities, of 

 all Known Flowering Plants and their Countries ' as a work of 

 supreme importance to students of systematic and geographical 

 botany, and to horticulturists." "At his request," adds Sir J. D. 

 Hooker, " I undertook to direct and supervise such a work." 

 The Clarendon Press announces that Part I. of this " Index 

 Kewensis " is now ready, that Part II. is well advanced, and 

 that the completion of the whole work may be expected next 

 year. 



The first part of Prof. A. Newton's " Dictionary of Birds " 

 has just been published by Messrs. A. and C. Black. It 

 . extends from aasvogel to the garefowl, or great auk, and runs 

 into 304 pages. The work is founded upon a series of articles 

 contributed by Prof. Newton to the ninth edition of the " En- 

 cyclopaedia Britannica." Important additions have been fur- 

 nished by Dr. Hans Gadow, and for other contributions Mr. R. 

 Lydekker, Prof. C. S. Key (who has written an interesting article 

 on " Flight "), and Dr. R. W. Shufeldt are responsible. A 

 commendable feature is the inclusion of many names of birds, 

 such as the caracara, koel, and mollymawk, which are frequently 

 found in books of travel but are not explained in an ordinary 

 dictionary. Compound names of the crow-shrike and thrush- 

 titmouse kind have, however, been omitted. 



Mr. R. L. Jack, the Government Geologist of Queensland, 

 has prepared a report on the Russell River Gold Field. The 

 report is accompanied by a geological map of the district. 



We hive received a dissertation by Mr. E. M. Blake, in which 

 he discusses the application of the method of indeterminate co- 

 efficients and exponents to the formal determination of those 

 integrals, of certain systems of differential equations, which are 

 expressible as series. 



The Harvard University Bulletin for May is a long list of 

 accessions to the University Library. This list includes, in 

 addition to recently-published books and pamphlets, a number 

 of extensive and important works of earlier date. Nearly one 

 hundred and fifty books in the list are concerned with science 

 and the arts. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co. have published a second 

 edition of " Lessons in Elementary Biology," by Prof. T. 

 Jeffery Parker. The whole of the book has been thoroughly 

 revised, and two of the lessons have been largely rewritten. A 

 number of new figures have also been added. 



Mr. W. H. Hudson, the author of "Idle Days in Pata- 

 gonia," recently reviewed in these columns, has completed a 

 book called "Birds in a Village," which will be published in a 

 few days by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. The book does not 

 profess to be a serious contribution to ornithology, but is in- 

 tended rather for the general reader. Among other chapters 

 of interest is one on the introduction of exotic birds, and another 

 NO. 1234, VOL. 48] 



on bird-life in London. In the concluding portions of the boot 

 the subject of bird-protection is dealt with at considerable 

 length. 



A REFERENCE list of the land and freshwater moUusca ol 

 New Zealand has been prepared by Messrs. C. Hedley and H. 

 Suter, and appears in the " Proceedings of the Linnean Society 

 of New South Wales," vol. vii., December, 1892. The author* 

 are of the opinion that as the New Zealand fauna become* 

 better known, its insular character stands out more prominently. 

 Foreign genera, which have been imposed on the fauna, have 

 been eliminated one by one, and many genera which might 

 have been expected to occur, since they are prevalent in 

 neighbouring countries, have not yet been detected. Crosse 

 remarked that " The terrestrial and fluviatile molluscan fauna 

 of New Zealand approximates more to that of New Caledonia, 

 in spite of the considerable distance that separates the two 

 countries, than to that of Australia" {Jour, de Conch, xxviii. 

 p. 37), and the authors think his idea has hardly received the 

 attention which it merits. 



The " Tourist Guide to the Continent," published for the 

 Great Eastern Railway Company, has reached its fourteenth 

 year of issue. It is edited by Mr. Percy Lindley, and includes 

 descriptions of things and places of Interest in Holland, Ger- 

 many, Belgium, and Switzerland. 



After Mr. Francis Galton, F.R.S., had completed his work 

 on "Finger Prints" he came into possession of the impres- 

 sions of the fore and middle fingers of the right hand of eight 

 different persons at Hooghly, Bengal, made in the first instance 

 in 1878, and secondly in 1892. Theseprints have afforded the 

 text for a discussion as to the persistence of patterns, and the 

 result of the decipherment is now published as a supplementary 

 chapter to the above-named book. Though the prints were not 

 obtained by the best means, a comparison of the reproductions 

 of them shows clearly that the "sign-manual" furnishes un- 

 questionable evidence as to a person's identity, and further, the 

 testimony is of such a character that anyjuryman would be able 

 to appreciate Its weight. 



We have received a communication from " Waterdale," in 

 which he calls attention to the fact that he subsequently cor- 

 rected many of the errors pointed out in the review of his j 

 researches which appeared in vol. xlvii. p. 601. I 



A CORRESPONDENT desires to know where to find any cele- 

 brated and artistic hedgerows of elms within about thirty or 

 forty miles of London. Perhaps one of our readers will furnish 

 the required information. 



Messrs. Funk and Wagnall, New York, have just issued 

 a complete prospectus of "A Standard Dictionary of the Eng- 

 lish Language," a work that has been in preparation for several 

 years, and is now nearly completed. The dictionary will contain 

 280,000 words in about 2200 pages of medium quarto, and will 

 be embellished with more than 4000 illustrations specially pre- 

 pared for it. One of the many distinguishing features is the 

 comprehensive provision that has been made for definitions by 

 specialists in various arts and sciences. Handicraft terms have 

 been gathered with great completeness and grouped under the 

 different trades, and by applying a similar system of grouping 

 to the names of fruits, flowers, weights, measures, stars, &c. 

 the facts concerning this class of words are given in a very com- j 

 plete manner. For example, under constellation are given the j 

 names of all the constellations, and under apple are found the j 

 names of nearly four hundred varieties. Judging from the I 

 specimen pages, and the list of men eminent in science and 

 literature who are concerned in the compilation, the dictionary 

 will be the handiest, simplest, and most trustworthy publication 

 of its kind. 



